The Laundry Freak goes on Vacation..... Now finished 27 days of pictures and laughs!

[Princess89]

At least this time you weren't yelling LIMEYS to a bunch of non limeys.

I tried searching for Kim Possible, glad you were able to find her!

Awesome TR, but I still want more lol.

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Wow great couple of installments. I love the pictures where Emily is so absorbed in her book instead of the characters. Wow, what a busy trip. Can't believe you met so many people.

 

[crossfamily]

Today is Animal Kingdom day! We wake up early by a phone call its Kathy! Kathy: So are we going today or not?
Me: Not sure! What's the weather gonna be like?
Kathy: Let me find out and I'll call you back.
Me: OK
Next thing I know there is a knock at the door. Its Kathy! Jammies and all. LOL
We watch the weather channel and decide to go for it. We get ready and take off. Well everyone but Bill. He decides to sit this one out!
We get there and head for the Safari Ride! Well since this was Kathy's families first time there it took us awhile. We stopped several times. It was so cool seeing it through the eyes of someone else. On our way there we run into

Then of course we have to take the kids picture by the funky car!

Ok now its time for the safari. We walk right on no wait! This is great. After the ride we stop to get a bite to eat. We eat at Tusker House Restaurant! We go in and tell the kids to go wash their hands. Then we find a table off on our own so we don't scare off any disers! Kathy and I both get Turkey Wrap with corn chowder. Note to self: This was big enough for both of us to share! Now for the kids we ordered a couple of each of these to split up: Chicken Drumstick and mashed potatoes with applesauce Macaroni and Cheese - served with applesauce and Mickey cheddar crackers
And that leaves the dessert: I had Chocolate Cake and Kathy had Cheesecake.

Ok now lets go find EE!

The plan was for Kathy to take Krista and the boys first then we would child swap and I would take them again. Now the wait said 30 minutes so off they go. I waited a bit and then called Kathy to tell her to let me know when she got up to the front. I look up and she was standing in front of me. She was gone 20 minutes tops. I then head to the front for child swap and the CM tells me only 2 kids can go with me. I tell her to tell them that. She then hands me and extra ticket and we thank her very much (pixie dust) and off we go. No I know most will boo me for this but I thought it sucked. I was waiting for the BIG thing and it just didn't happen. Now I go to the roller coaster capital of the world (Cedar Point) every year so of course I compare everything to their roller coasters. Ok we are done kids love it and Kathy and I are now officially the coolest moms ever! Yep you guessed it! It didn't last for long! LOL We now head over to Dino Land! The boys rode the mini roller coaster thing and Kathy and I took the little ones to ride the dinosaur version of Dumbo. We finish there and head to the Dinosaur ride. Kathy and I pass but the boys just have to ride it so Kathy and I give in and let them go and we head straight to the exit to wait for them.
Ok we now are headed back to the hotel to get ready for the hoop de do!

We get ready and by now it is pouring rain. Kathy sends the kids with me ( wait this is not right why do I get the kids all the time) We take my van this time and head out. Kathy and Bill take the Bus! We get there and wait. Why do they tell you to get there so early if they make you stand out in the rain? Now try and keep 5 kids out of the puddles What a joke! Ok Kathy where the he double hockey sticks are you? Ok it is time to go in and still no Kathy and Bill. We let the people at the door know we are waiting on 2 more people and go sit down. By now my kids are spazzing! No naps! By the time Kathy and Bill got there I was ready to lose it. Now Melissa (aka scubagirl) was here too. She and her son sat up in the balcony!

The show was really cute. Now would I go again? Definately but only next time without kids!! LOL
We had very good ribs!

Now the chicken on the other hand was really bad!

Just wasn't prepared right. Like it sat too long. Now back to my perfect angels! After lots of fighting I finally gave in and let Anthony go sit up with Melissa and her son! So Jeff and Anthony head up there. Well now Nick and Em want to go. What a joke. Every time I got one of the kids back to the table the other one was half way up the stairs. At one point one of the singers brought Emmy back down the stairs while I was chasing Nick! Ok note to self: No late events with my kids especially when they get no naps. Ok we are done so we all head back to the hotel! Kathy and Bill take the bus and Melissa and all, yes I said all, the kids pile in my van and head back to the hotel. We get there and run through the rain to my room. We send the boys to the food court for some snacks and we do some Kathy finally makes it back to the room and she brings more snacks. LOL We had so much fun getting to know one another. It was getting late so Melissa and her son left and that was our day! I put the monsters to bed and off I went too!

Now before I go for the day I have to leave you with this:

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

Weird. I just got finished reading DU's tr & he went to AK too. I felt the same way about HHDR. The food was good, but same reviews. I paid for us to go & Stinkerbelle fell asleep about 5 mins into the show & slept on me through the whole thing-- waste of money. It was a great show though, we loved it. Ds & dd1 would run up to the cast everytime we'd see them at FW.

 

[crossfamily]

Yep thats 3 in 1 day! Another record set by me!!
Today we have adr's at epcot twice. Once in the morning at The Garden Grill and in the evening at the Coral Reef!.

We get up at our own time. Yes we needed to sleep in late! Ok its 9am but for us this is late! We get up and head to Epcot! We have a bit of time to kill so we head over to were the Disney Visa people get their private meet and greet! We stand in line and stand in line and stand in line. Ok now as you probably know by now my kids don't like to wait. Em is running one way and Nick is headed the other. Anthony runs after Em and I run after Nick. Too late. Nick has knocked over the stand up ride thingy! Not sure the name of it but it has 2 wheels and You stand up on it and rides you around! Really cool. Just not knocked over by my son. Now I have some angry CM's running my way. I am so sorry! Bye gotta go! I head back to the line just in time for us to go in. We go in and we see Minnie and Goofy. We were in there for just a couple of minutes and had the CM take pics for the photopass.

Off we went. We still had time to kill so we went in to see Crush. It was so cool. Well cool until Crush was telling the little kids yelling in the front row to chill out. Yep he was talking about my angels! LOL

Ok we cut this short and head to our adr's. We check in and do the potty breaks! We wait and wait! Ok now people who have checked in after us are in. I go back to the front and gee we were skipped just a moment and we will take you in. We go in and get an awsome waiter. He took good care of us! We ate and ate. We were visited by Chip and Dale, Mickey, and Pluto!

Then came dessert! The kids got to decorate their own cupcake! Best dessert yet!

We head back to the hotel for naps. Yes its a miracle my kids took naps! We wake up and get ready and head back to Epcot for dinner at Coral Reef. We get there in plenty of time and check in. We actually didn't wait too long and we were seated. I was kinda disappointed at the menu. I was dying for lots of seafood! Wow should have read the menu before I left. I was fooled.
We started out with beverages. I let the kids order Glowing "Blue Whale" Beverage. It was so cool. It had a glow cube in it and a dolphin hanging on the side!

Next we ordered apps. Shrimp Cocktail - served with a spicy cocktail sauce. While we were waiting for our food Kathy and her family came in for their adr's. They sat near us.

Now for the main course: I had Grilled Mahi Mahi served over Israeli Couscous and Tatsoi with Honey-Soy Glaze The kids had: Fresh Catch of the Day served with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Now Mine was over cooked big time and then I tried Anthony's fish and it was literally solid as a rock. Now I would have sent it back but after waiting 15 minutes for our server I was ready for dessert. While we were waiting for dessert Anthony went around the restaurant and video taped. It was so cool people were in diving with the fish. My kids went nuts. Ok dessert is here. I had The Chocolate Wave* - Warm Dark Chocolate Cake with a White Chocolate Grand Marnier center with Chocolate Ganache and White Chocolate Ice Cream *contains alcohol

and the kids had Build Your Own Sundae.

Ok we are tired now so we are headed back to the hotel to chill out. Get some swim time in and then to bed early.

 

[schlepsnort]

OMG just reading your updates today made me tired!! Though it reminded me of our own trip!!

You met a whole lotta DIS! Wow!

Can't wait to read more, glad to see our kids aren't the only ones who divide and conquer!

 

[crossfamily]

Ok Anthony you decide what we are gonna do today! I want to go to all four parks today mom! OK you want to go commando?!?!

Our goal of the day was to hit everything we didn't get to do that we wanted to do on our trip!

1st park: Animal Kingdom

First thing on our list: It's tough to be a bug! Now isn't this the funniest thing you ever saw?

Second thing on our list: Rafiki's Planet Watch! We took the oh so boring train ride over to the island and we run into Rafiki himself first.

Next we go into the Conservation Station and find our first hidden Mickey!

and see Pocahontas and Stanley!

Now after reading DisUnc's TR I just have to post this picture for him!

Ok we check out the Conservation Station and then head out to pet the animals. After we finish washing our hands (aka play in the water) we board the wonderful scenic train ride and head back to Africa. Ok did you get to see everything you want here? Anthony: Yep Mom: Ok now where?

2nd park: MGM Studios

We haven't seen any of the kiddie shows yet so we head over to see the Little Mermaid (which my kids absolutely loved) and then off to see Play House Disney with Bear in the Big Blue House.

Now they have good CM's here and bad CM's here. There was a CM who was the bomb. He was awesome. He let the kids dance all over and play they had so much fun. At one point the host of the show called all the kids up to dance around. Well when they were done with the song they told all the kids to go back to their families. GOOD LUCK now with my kids. They wanted to stay and dance. One CM came up to them and told them to go find their mom. Ok now we were in the front row and I was right there. I was getting mad. The nice CM finally got the mean CM out of the way. He let my kids dance where ever they wanted. OK we were happy now! The show ended and the good CM gave my kids pictures of JOJO to keep. It was so sweet of him. I wish I would have gotten his name. He was a sweet man.

Next stop we head over to Honey I shrunk the kids playground adventure. Kids run all their energy off and I enjoy myself watching them.

Before we leave we have to get a picture on the big ant! We stand in line and wait our turn. Yes for some reason there was a monster line to get our pictures taken on an insect. We get to the front of the line and have 2 groups of people in front of us. Right in front of us were a group of 6 exchange students that spoke some English. They were so sweet. I asked them if they wanted me to take a picture of all of them on the ant and they said yes. Well one girl accidentally stepped in front of another lady taking a picture. She felt so bad she was apologizing like crazy. This lady jumped all over this girl. Now me being the person I am I could not stand there and be quiet. ( I know this is a shock to those of you who know me really well) This lady kept saying “me trying to make a picture” well I was very mad at this point and I said to the lady “It was an accident” “she did apologize” well she just kept yelling “me trying to make a picture” We when I looked and seen this girl in tears I lost it. I told her “Well here in AMERICA we TAKE pictures not make them so take you kids and go “make” your pictures elseware” Ok so this was mean of me I know but I was pushed too far. The girls were laughing at this point so I felt good about what I did. I took their picture and then did ours.

Ok now we better get out of here before I get my butt kicked! LOL
Now where? We go to Toy Story Pizza Planet for lunch. Pizza was really good! We finish and I say now what? Lets switch parks!

3rd park: Magic Kingdom!

Ok what do you want to do here Anthony? Ride Its a small world again. Me: We came all the way here to ride its a small world? Anthony: Yeah I love that ride and besides I can video tape it now that we brought the video camera. Ok we head to its a small world to VIDEO TAPE IT! Ok now where? Next park!

Park 4: Epcot!

Now it seems we have been very lucky today there have been no wait on anything! We head over to the place where they have to character greeting. We go in and there is no one and I mean no one there. We go from Character to character without a wait.

It was awsome. Now where?

We still have to go to Mexico to get our last stamp in our passport. Ok off to Mexico we go.

Yeah I can do here. They have awsome strawberry margarittas. We go into the mexican village place and ride the boat ride not once, not twice, but 3 times. No one was there so we kept going around and around and around. By the time we got out the fireworks were gonna start so we waited for them. BOOM Nick: MOMMY!! and he starts screaming! Oh great! so we walk as slowly as I can to the exit. Anthony wanted to see the fireworks so bad so I walked slow so he could see them. Anthony was happy he got to see the fireworks. Nick was happy we left. Emmy was ASLEEP. Mom was happy: I did and Emmy was asleep. LOL

We now head back to the hotel and I put the kids to bed and then start loading up the van. I hate to load the van when the kids are awake. I always forget something. I put everything in the van but clothes for tomorrow, toiletries, and our blankies! It is now 2am so I am off to sleep.

 

[crossfamily]

Ok we get up when we wake up at the hotel. Ok so its only 8:30am but remember my Nick wakes up at 6am on a regular basis so mom was happy! LOL We go out of our room for the last time! Mom: Does everyone have their blankies? Kids: Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! Ok last look around.

Ok now off to 1900 park fare to eat with Alice and friends. We take the bus to epcot and then the monorail to the Grand Floridian! Now when we get there we seen a wedding taking place! Oh that will be taralee next November! I stood a moment picturing her in her lime green dress and lgmh’s hanging all over the place! Ok Lets go I’m done dreaming! We head over to the restaurant and get seated right away. We go in and the food was wonderful. This was by far the best breakfast we have had. The food was great. Now can ya guess what my 2 little ones ate?

We got visited by many characters while there.

Now it was time to go but we have one last stop to make! We have to see Mary Poppins! My idol!

Now off to the monorail to go back to epcot. We get there and board a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Now I couldn’t go all this way without checking out this place. It was so beautiful! We had to go check out the entire place.

While on our way to the arcade we ran into another Diser! Well I didn’t know she was a diser she seen us and made a comment about our shirts so of course me being the nosey person I am I had to respond. Yep I am on the disboards. I introduce myself and then she introduces herself as Viki. Viki is moderator on the disboards. I was so excited. Viki was there with her dp Gwen! They were so nice. They were there celebrating their 20th anniv. Now what a place to celebrate such an ocassion! Viki was so kind to tell me all about AKL. My dh and I want to stay there next visit! Thanks Viki I was really glad we got to meet. Only wish I would have thought to get a picture of all of us! We’ll have to meet again sometime. Now we departed the AKL and headed back to the Movies and get our van. Now Anthony just informs me that he forgot to use up all his tickets at the arcade. Ok where would you like to go? He says Pop Century! Their arcade rocks. Ok we drive to Pop and explain to the guards what we want to do and She is now laughing really hard. She lets us go in and tell Anthony to have fun. We go in and kids play and then we grab a bite to eat and get ready to leave and run into Lauren on her way out. Say our quick goodbyes and head out for our way home! Next stop: Holiday Inn in GA! We get there and our hotel is by a hardees so we grab dinner and head into the bath.

That is all for our last day. The drive home was long! And I mean long. After we got up the next day (Sunday) we drive pretty much straight through to just outside Cinn. in KY and stay at a Holiday Inn. Now this was the best HI I have ever stayed in. Our room was perfect. Pool was small but empty and my kids could scream all they wanted. After they were tired they went to bed and I did some and went to bed. We got up on Labor Day and headed home! Now this was the worst day of our entire trip! Emily kept escaping from her car seat. I was gonna scream. I must have stopped a dozen times or more. Now I am about 4 hours from home and it took me almost 7 because of my escapo! I get just outside of Toledo (45 minutes from home) and Emily gets out of her car seat once again. Anthony gets up and tries getting her in and I get right over and next thing I know the police are pulling me over. Ok I try to explain about my day but my luck my first ticket since I got my license. He said he was being nice to me and only gave me for speeding (4 over) and not for the kids being out of their car seats too! Oh how nice of him! He also had to tell me several times if i didn’t pay this ticket in 10 days a warrant would be issued for my arrest. Now I have 3 kids in the car screaming and yelling and crying and he is busy telling me about a warrant for my arrest! GEE THANKS. I take off and cry all the way home. I got home and handed the kids to my dh and said I need a vacation!

I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read my tr. I know it has taken me a long time to finish it but now I am officially done!!!!!!!!

THANKS

 

[Princess89]

Wow its done, makes me a little sad. Still unmotivated to do mine though The kids as usual look absolutely adorable!!

So I guess next November we can 'hang' in the Arcade at Pop since I don't know what I am going to do in the world without kids

 

[dwheatl]

Great trippie. I'm sad it's over, but I think you got a trip and a half out of this trip. That commando day was .
I know who Viki is. She's very nice and helpful on the board. Glad to know she's the same in person.
Sorry about the ticket. When your daughter is older, sometime when she gives you grief, lay that on her as a guilt trip. It's the right thing to do

 

[tinkgurl]

DAY 2

We slept in today. Well if you count 8am sleeping in (WE DO!!!) Had to run to Wal-Mart I forgot sippy cups. Bought a new camera!! Stopped and ate breakfast at I-Hop. I love I-Hop we don't have one near us. After that we went to Look Out Mountain. We took the incline rail way up to the top of the Mountain then look around there. It was awsome.

This was the track that took us to the top of the Mountain. Incline RAilway!

This is the view from the top of Look Out Mountain.

My 3 kids in front of a Museum. Man do they charge a lot to go to those places. We skipped it. Just looked around outside.

This is the courtyard in our hotel. The kids love the trains.

The other side of the courtyard of our hotel. There are specialty gift shops all around the courtyard. They even have a scrapbook store. I loved it.
choochoo.com is the website for our Chattanooga Hotel. It is so cool.

There is one major problem with this hotel. NO LAUNDRY ROOM!!!!!!! 3 restaurants and 3 pools but no LAUNDRY ROOM.

This evening we will be swimming and hanging out. We are going to Sonics for dinner. (We don't have a Sonics in MI) So this is cool for us. Going to bed early because we want to get on the road by 4am to head to Orlando.
Thats all for now.
Tomorrow: Our drive to the Inlaws house!!!!!!! and our 1 night stay with them.

My DBF and I did the Incline last year! And we sat in the same spot as you! crazy!

 

[VanniGirl]

What a wonderful trip, thanks for sharing!

 

[crossfamily]

Wow its done, makes me a little sad. Still unmotivated to do mine though The kids as usual look absolutely adorable!!

So I guess next November we can 'hang' in the Arcade at Pop since I don't know what I am going to do in the world without kids

Yeah I can see it now all we will be talking about is our kids the whole time!

 

[kaw1218]

You are hysterical......I had to keep reading some of the stuff you wrote to DH, because he thought I was going crazy! LOL
Awesome trip report.....sorry about the ticket....sounds like something that would happen to me.
You met so many limeys( and limey imposters!) that is so cool. I love all the character pictures, most of them turned out really great.
I was thinking of trying to convince DH to let me take my girls to disney myself, you know like a girls only trip. I am not so sure about that anymore...

 

[stinkerbelle's mom]

WOW, what a great trip you had. Sorry about the escapee & the ticket, that stinks. Your kids are sooooo lucky to have such a great mom!

 

[averill94]

Wow it was so great to read the rest of your TR! You guys did so much.

Where in EPCOT is the character spot? Is this the VISA spot? WHen we were there I missed it and heavan forbid I stop for 2 minutes and ask a CM !?!
You got great pics there.

 

[Va-bear]

Great job Teresa!!!! You guys sure had a busy/crazy/ exciting/ tiring trip!!! Your kids really owe ya and the Disney corperation too!!!!!!!

Well, go have a pastry for me and cant wait for your next trip report (!!!!)

 

[crossfamily]

Wow it was so great to read the rest of your TR! You guys did so much.

Where in EPCOT is the character spot? Is this the VISA spot? WHen we were there I missed it and heavan forbid I stop for 2 minutes and ask a CM !?!
You got great pics there.

It was in one of the building on the right on your way to the land. Not sure of the name. I know the one (non visa) was in the same building as the coke place and the visa one was in the same building as the fire demo thing. Sorry not too good with names of places. Thanks for taking the time to read my tr!!!

 

[crossfamily]

You are hysterical......I had to keep reading some of the stuff you wrote to DH, because he thought I was going crazy! LOL
Awesome trip report.....sorry about the ticket....sounds like something that would happen to me.
You met so many limeys( and limey imposters!) that is so cool. I love all the character pictures, most of them turned out really great.
I was thinking of trying to convince DH to let me take my girls to disney myself, you know like a girls only trip. I am not so sure about that anymore...

Your girls are older so it wouldn't be so bad. It really wasn't too too bad. My kids are a lot worse at home trust me. They actually behave better out in public. Thanks for taking the time to read everything and yes tell your dh there are crazy people out there!!!!!